Minister wants businessman to donate $200,000 for relief mission

McIngvale put on the spot

Published 6:30 am, Tuesday, January 18, 2005

K.A. Paul
, a Houston-based evangelical minister, assembled 60 volunteers from around the country who planned to take off Monday to tsunami-ravaged southern Asia.

Minutes before the flight was scheduled to leave from Ellington Field, however, Paul announced it would be temporarily grounded because he had not raised enough money for the trip. Paul said he had only $215,000 of the $400,000 he needs but nevertheless promised volunteers that the plane will depart today because it is "God's will."

In a subsequent interview, Paul said the plane is "100 percent to go (today) — unless there is a technical problem."

Paul, whose Gospel to the Unreached Millions ministry on 24210 E. Lake Houston Parkway attempts to spread Christianity throughout the Third World, said there were three reasons the flight did not leave Monday.

The first was the Martin Luther King Day holiday, which caused a delay in getting travel documents. The second, Paul said, was a pending announcement by the Sri Lankan government. He did not elaborate.

The third reason proved far more contentious.

"The third reason is that a businessman in this city said he will pray and see whether he should give the remaining $200,000 or not," Paul said.

He later identified the businessman to the volunteers and reporters as Jim "Mattress Mack" McIngvale.

A perturbed McIngvale, who recently gave $250,000 to a tsunami relief effort spearheaded by former Presidents Bush and Clinton, said he has no plans to give money to Paul after learning that the minister "put the burden on me."

"I think it's unfair for the guy to put me in the middle of this," said McIngvale, the owner of Gallery Furniture, who is overseeing local fund raising for the Bush-Clinton effort.

Paul denied he tried to publicly pressure McIngvale to donate money. Paul said he also has asked the Bush-Clinton fund-raising effort to give him money, but McIngvale said he was unaware of that. Paul said the Sri Lankan prime minister might give the money if it is not raised through other sources but then said that was not certain either.

McIngvale said he believes Paul is well-intentioned but added he had repeatedly told the minister he would not give that much money until he checked into the safety of the mission and how the money would be spent.

He said Paul asked for $19,000 two weeks ago but approached him at his store Saturday — "my busiest day" — to ask for $200,000.

After learning about Paul's news conference from a reporter on Monday, McIngvale said he would not give the money.

Paul has said he needs $250,000 for fuel for the round-trip to Sri Lanka, India and Indonesia, stopping first in Jacksonville, Fla., to pick up $50 million in medical supplies.

"How can they maintain the airplane if they can't even pay for fuel?" McIngvale said. "This doesn't pass the smell test."

Paul said the 22-year-old 747 plane was acquired in December 2001 by a nonsectarian group he founded called Global Peace Initiative. He said it has safely flown dozens of relief missions around the world, including a recent trip to southern Asia that received $200,000 from Carl Lindner of Cincinnati. Paul said that Lindner, the majority owner of the Cincinnati Reds, has donated $3 million to his organizations in the past 10 years to establish orphanages in southern Asia.

Paul returned to Cincinnati last week from a similar mission, bankrolled by Lindner and involving nearly two dozen high school students.

Paul said he and four prominent local physicians met McIngvale on Saturday and the furniture magnate was "excited" after speaking for 30 minutes on the phone with Lindner, who vouched for the evangelist and his organization.

McIngvale said Lindner "added to the credibility" of the group but didn't answer all his concerns.

In a phone interview, Paul said the plane was a gift to Global Peace Initiative from someone who wished to remain anonymous.

Paul said the group would leave today even if the remaining money is not raised because it has enough to pay for fuel to get to its planned destinations.

According to his Web site, Paul was born in poverty in India to a family that converted from Hinduism to Christianity and whose minister father evangelized in hundreds of poor Indian villages. His Gospel to the Unreached Millions ministry is based in Houston.

The volunteers who planned to go on the trip are mostly from Houston, but some came from California and Puerto Rico. Many are doctors and engineers who plan to use their expertise to help the tsunami victims. Sixteen members of EquuSearch, a local group that specializes in finding missing people, are among the volunteers.

Paul said the volunteers paid their own way to Houston, and he denied misleading anyone.

Jenny Dowdall, a radiology assistant who flew from southern California with two of her friends, said they volunteered to go to the storm-ravaged region after learning about Paul's plan on the Internet. She said they were told funding "might be an issue."

"We're just anxious to get there," said Dowdall, 31, whose backpack was stuffed with Beanie Babies and other toys she planned to give to orphans.